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JANUARY 24, 2020, KEIZERTIMES, PAGE A14 KEIZERTIMES.COM McNary shocks West Salem in MVC thriller By MATT RAWLINGS Of the Keizertimes Similar to every team the McNary boys basketball team has faced this year, West Salem had a diffi cult time defending Nate Meithof. The Celtics star shooting guard torched the Titans for 35 points on 13-of-16 shooting. However, the heroics down the stretch for Mc- Nary came from an unex- pected source. Kyler Rodriguez — who swung time between JV and varsity at the beginning of the season — came off the bench to score 16 points, including a game-winning 3-pointer, which was banked in off the backboard with eight seconds remaining, as the Celtics erased a 17-point second half defi cit to beat West Salem 64-63 in the Mountain Valley Conference opener on Friday, Jan. 17. “I thought the ball was going to be stolen on the pass, but it was tipped straight into my hands. I’m just lucky that I was able to call bank on that shot,” Rodriguez said with a smile. Just a couple of weeks prior, Rodriguez was not consistently involved in Mc- Nary’s rotation. But with his performances in the last two games, the sophomore guard has proved himself to be a re- liable secondary scorer. “He has really taken that next step. He isn’t afraid to make mistakes and he has really matured and has be- come a signifi cant role player for us. I think tonight was a signifi cant stepping stone to see where he could go and we just expect him to keep on growing,” McNary head coach Ryan Kirch said. As the game was under- way, it became clear how fo- cused West Salem was in try- ing to slow down Meithof. Not only was he face-guarded for much of the game, but many times when Meithof touched the ball, an additional two de- fenders would swarm to him. Despite the game-plan, Meithof was able to shake himself loose for a trio of tough buckets in the open- ing period, giving the Celtics a 13-12 lead. However, things began to unravel moments later for McNary. Late in the fi rst quar- ter, McNary’s starting point guard Jando Gonzalez had to leave the game after hitting the fl oor hard. Then in the second quarter, Kirch got hit Please see BBALL, Page A11 KEIZERTIMES/Matt Rawlings McNary point guard Jando Gonzalez breaks away from the West Salem defense in transition for an easy lay-up. The Celtics erased a 17-point second half defi cit to defeat the Titans 64-63. KEIZERTIMES/Matt Rawlings LEFT: McNary students storm the court after their team completed the comeback victory. RIGHT: Nate Meithof torched the Titans for 35 points on 13-of-16 shooting, Shorthanded Celts fall to West Salem in league opener KEIZERTIMES/Matt Rawlings McNary forward Annie-Leigh Besa goes up for a shot after receiving the ball in the post. Besa led the Celtics with 14 points, but McNary still fell to West Salem 61-45 on friday, Jan. 17. sure off with the full-court By MATT RAWLINGS press,” McNary forward An- Of the Keizertimes The McNary girls basket- nie-Leigh Besa said. The Celtics also gave up ball squad nearly played even with West Salem in the fi nal numerous easy baskets to three quarters. But the Celtics West Salem after suffering couldn’t overcome the hole several defensive breakdowns they dug themselves into in in the fi rst half. “There were a lot of things the opening period. we were kick- The Titans ing ourselves started the about in the fi rst quarter “ There were a fi rst half,” Mc- on a 20-5 run lot of things we Nary head and McNary coach Eliz- couldn’t get were kicking abeth Dor- the game back ourselves about an said. “We into single struggled digits as the in the fi rst half.” with leaving Celtics fell to — Elizabeth Doran, the weak side West Salem McNary head coach open when 61-45 in their we were dou- Mountain Val- ble-teaming ley Confer- ence opener on Friday, Jan. their guards and our transi- tion defense wasn’t great. We 17. McNary was without their made progress, but we need starting point guard, Leah to adjust quicker in games to Doutt, who was battling an what is going on.” McNary found themselves illness all week. Without their top ball-han- trailing at the half 39-21. One dler, the Celtics struggled in of the only bright spots in dealing with West Salem’s the fi rst half for McNary was half-court trap, which led to Besa, who scored eight points several turnovers for McNary. off the bench in the fi rst 16 “Not having Leah there minutes — she would fi nish was defi nitely diffi cult. She the game with a team-high usually takes a lot of that pres- 14 points. “I knew we needed some- thing to get us going. At that point, there was nothing to lose, so I was just playing with confi dence in myself,” Besa said. The Celtics cut into the lead at the start of the third quarter when Kylie Nepstad and Kenzie Proctor hit back- to-back triples to trim the lead to 14. Kendyl Jennings, who had 10 points on the night, also got involved in the scoring action. But West Salem responded by going on an 11-2 run to end the quarter, which gave them a 54-31 advantage. Despite the score being out of reach, McNary had some positives to build on in the fi nal period, including their defense stepping up and holding the Titans to just sev- en points in the fourth quar- ter. “That was something that we were praised on in the locker room even though we fell short,” Besa said. McNary travels to Bend on Saturday, Jan. 25 for a 2:30 p.m. game. The Celtics will return home on Thursday, Jan. 30 for a 5:45 p.m. matchup with Sprague.
